The incomparable @gochemonline shared with the TOSA's at a CUE rock star camp a couple of weeks ago a productivity tool called Sortd. It is, I think, technically a skin to a gmail inbox. Your messages come in on the left. You can open them, read them, delete them, archive them, etc. But sometimes you need to leave something in your inbox because it requires some action on your part. That's where the power of Sortd comes into play.

See, you can draw your emails over to columns (which you define). I have columns for things that I need to do, things that I need to follow-up on, items I need to read when I have time, and emails that are for reference. Really, I work mostly in the first two columns: to do and follow up. One of my goals this year is to follow-up with people to make sure that things get done in a timely manner. That's where this column comes in handy. Need to follow-up with that Principal who still needs to give me the name of a new Lead Science Teacher? Easy, drag email there. Type myself a note of when I need to follow-up and it's easy to find for later. No digging through the email inbox, no wondering how long it's been since you heard from them.

I've been using Sortd for the past two weeks and have loved it. It's a very clean user interface, which I appreciate. Right now it's in beta, which means it's still a work in progress. I hope that means that it gets even better though I'm not sure how they'd accomplish that yet. The only way in, I think, is with an invitation code. If you'd like one, let me know, and I'd be happy to help. In the meantime, check them out online at: http://www.sortd.com/.

PS. I'd also like to point out that Sortd is very responsive via social media. That's something that I really appreciate in a new company!